Brian Quintenz, who was nominated last year to chair the Commodity Futures Trading Commission only to have his nomination pulled by President Donald Trump in October, has found a new role in the prediction market space. The Coalition for Prediction Markets announced Wednesday that it has brought Quintenz aboard as a senior advisor.
The hire gives the industry’s advocacy group a policy voice with direct federal regulatory experience just as prediction market operators face an escalating wave of state lawsuits challenging their sports-related contracts.
A Regulator’s Perspective Joins the Industry’s Lobbying Arm
The Coalition for Prediction Markets counts Kalshi, Crypto.com, Coinbase, Robinhood, and Underdog among its members. Quintenz previously served as global head of policy at a16z crypto and as a CFTC commissioner, and had appeared well positioned to be confirmed as CFTC chair before his nomination was withdrawn last fall.
His appointment underscores how much money and political capital prediction market operators are pouring into their fight to keep offering sports contracts in states where regulators argue those products are functionally unlicensed sports betting.
Timing Lines Up With a Wave of Legal Setbacks
Quintenz joins the coalition days after Kalshi suffered a fresh legal defeat in New York, where a federal judge rejected the company’s attempt to block state gambling enforcement against its sports contracts. Nevada regulators have separately asked a court to hold Kalshi in contempt over allegations that it continued taking sports wagers in the state despite a court order prohibiting the practice.
The CFTC has staked out the opposite position at the federal level, suing New York in April to seek a declaratory judgment giving it exclusive jurisdiction over event contracts, and backing Kalshi before an Ohio federal appeals court in May. With Quintenz now advising the coalition, the group gains a former insider’s view of federal regulatory strategy as the broader legal fight over prediction markets inches closer to what many attorneys believe could ultimately require a Supreme Court ruling. Regulated sportsbook alternatives like FanDuel continue operating under existing state licenses in the meantime.
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